Will history repeat itself as Leicester try to win the Premier League again?

By Editor ,
15th Sep 2016 at 4:55 PM
(11v11 blog)

The Premier League is well underway and the clubs are already beginning to show what they’re made of. With the Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho rivalry continuing over the Manchester Derby, with Manchester City coming out on top, to Leicester battling as the reigning champions, there’s a lot of speculation about whether Leicester will be able to win the League once again this season.

We’re taking a look at the chances of history repeating itself this season, and whether another team will become the champions.

Team
The Leicester team hasn’t changed too much in terms of signings and sales, however there is one big player that the squad will miss dramatically, and that is N’Golo Kante. Kante has now signed for Chelsea, and was a key player in the Leicester midfield last season, often creating and being the driving force behind many of the games. He will be sorely missed by the squad, and this may cause Ranieri to look to a new formation for the side in order to make up for that missing whole. However, on the upside, the squad did manage to keep hold of some of their important players such as Jamie Vardy, Riyad Mahrez, Kasper Schmeichel and Danny Drinkwater who helped the squad to play consistently in order to help them take on the premier League. It’s yet to be seen whether N’Golo Kante’s absence in the team will be a huge miss or whether they will be able to adapt well enough to not drastically affect the club in their bid to repeat history.

Performance
Leicester haven’t had the best start to their season as reigning champions, having so far won 1, drawn 1 and lost 2 out of the four Premier League games that they have played. Leicester have so far battled against Hull, Arsenal, Swansea and Liverpool. However, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of pressure on the club as there usually is when it comes to champions repeating their successes. In fact, the expectation is so little that 888sport have the club down at 100/1 to win the Premier League outright this season, with Manchester City being the outright favourites (which is no surprise considering their squad, and the potential their new manager Pep Guardiola brings). Although their performance hasn’t been the best start, it has only been a few games in, meaning there’s plenty of time for the club to build back up to where they know they can be.

European
One of the main reasons people are sceptical about whether Leicester will be able to repeat history, is the fact that they will now also be battling for the title in the Champions League. Their first match in the tournament will be against Club Brugge, and although they are expected to make their way through this event, despite their manager’s previous disappointments in Europe, this could have a huge impact on the fitness, morale and tiredness of the club. This could have an effect on the way the club plays in the Premier League, and it was not something that they had to face last season and will be a big culture shock for some of the players.

Chelsea and Liverpool on the other hand, have the advantage after having a poor 2015/16 season, of not qualifying for big European tournaments such as the Champions League, making them one of the favourites to win the League over the current champions. Leicester will have a strong fight ahead of them and if they are to succeed their going to need to improve their performances in the League, as well as having to build up a strong team that doesn’t have a weakness without Kante. Whether they are capable of repeating history will be seen at the end of the season, but there’s a strong chance that other teams with new managers and world record signings are going to be forcefully chasing for the title.